James Franco's Cure for AIDS

As the cure for AIDS spreads across the globe the praise for James Franco skyrockets. Franco (of the Spider-Man trilogy [the ones with Tobey Maguire]) has lent his doctorate degrees in microbiology and chemistry to helping the less fortunate around him. He has broken the equation that held the cure for the AIDS virus.

Franco, who was self-diagnosed in the spring of 2015, said it just felt like the right thing to do. He struggled with the disease for a year while he completed his post-graduate degrees. During that time he said he became an amateur medical doctor, claiming that since he didn’t put the time into the school he didn’t want to over-emphasize all the home studying he did. “No degree equals no professional title,” he joked.

He contracted the disease while participating in an unsimulated sex scene for Get Sexy, a deep and painful story of a sex addict trying to have sexual encounters in every country on earth. The film ends with the protagonist succumbing to the AIDS virus. Franco—who wrote, directed, produced, acted, and scored the film—wanted an actor that actually had the AIDS virus for realism purposes. He admits that it was a risk he didn’t fully come to realize until it was too late, but lucky for the thirty-five million people suffering from the virus, they finally got Franco to help them out.

“You see guys like Steve McQueen and Von Trier putting out movies like Shame and Nymphomaniac. I saw these movies and was so under whelmed by them. You know? I asked myself, ‘how would Kerouac re-imagine this story? And then I wrote Get Sexy.”

It was soon after shooting wrapped that Franco felt that deep pit in his stomach. During one of his two hour meditations he came to the realization that he was ill. He did the tests at home in his state of the art laboratory, and when his suspicions were correct he set himself to work. He was accepted into Yale University almost immediately, tearing his way through the curriculum because of his now looming deadline.

He didn’t let the load of schoolwork get in the way of his professional life. He was able to release a book of short stories, One Broken Cement Stair at a Time, along with a gripping novel, Horizon, (a finalist for the National Book Award, but failed to take home the prize against the likes of Jonathan Safran Foer). His ego didn’t need to worry, the Academy Awards still called his name over and over for Get Sexy. He took home the statues for producing, acting, and directing.

“It was a bittersweet year, that’s for sure. But I’m proud to say this will be an even better year. I mean, being accepted as part of this artist community that I’ve admired so much over the years is a dream come true. But being able to pass on the gift of life to millions of people is even more rewarding. I didn’t think anything would be more awarding than winning an Oscar, but I think I found it.”